Cross-tie for mine railroads or track constructions.



E. HUTTON..

CROSS TIE FOR MINE RAILROADS 0R TRACK CONSTRUCTIONS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I6. 1916.

Patehted Apr. 17,1917,

TIE. .l

ERNEST HUTTON, OF WAYLAND,KENTUCKY.

CROSS-TIE FOR MINE BATLROADS OB TRACK CONSTRUCTIONS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 16, 1916. Serial No. 131,721.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST- HUT'roN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Wayland, in the county of Floyd and State of Kentucky, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Cross-Ties for Mine Railroads orTrack Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ties for mine railroads or trackconstructions, and the primary object of the same is to provide a tiehavinga terminal formation adapted to receive and engage rails and holdthe latter to gage and also prevent the rail from turning and wherebyalso the rails may be readily detached when it is desired to shift thetrack construction from one point to another in mine leads or in otherapplications of the improved tie. A further object of the invention isto provide a tie for the purposes specified of a cheap and durablecharacter and permitting a rail to be applied thereto with the balldown, especially when driving entries where it is undesirable to cut arail and under conditions'when it is necessary to extend a track anumber of feet required to be daily adapted to meet certaincontingencies incident to minetrack or other analogous constructions.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of theseveral parts which will be more fully hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the drawingi Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a trackconstruction showing a tie and two rails, and the tie broken away andpar-' tially in section, and embodying the features of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken in the plane of the line22, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an edge elevation of one extremity of the improved tie showingrails in cross-section therein arranged in normal and ball downpositions for extension purposes.

Fig. 4% is a detail perspective view of one 7 extremity of the improvedtie.

The numeral 5 designates the body of the tie struck up at oppositeextremities in vertical planes, as at 6, and then inwardly and upwardlyin inclined planes, as at 7, each extremity being similarly formed; andfrom the inner terminal of the inwardly inclined portion 7 the end isturned and bent downwardly, as at 8, and then shaped into a horizontallyflat seat member 9 terminating in an upwardly and outwardly directedstop bend 10 which forms a means to engage the inner edge portion of arail flange.

The flat seat member 9 is rivetedor other.

wise secured to the adjacent portion of the the bent portions 6, 7 and 8are held in the shape desired and with the body portion of the tienearest thereto provide an openended chamber 12 for a purpose which willbe presently explained. The upwardly and inwardly inclined portion 7 andthe downwardly bent portion 8 intersect in such man ner as to provide anoverhanging pr0jection 13 which is shaped or given such contour as toeffectively hold a rail when desired with the ball down to prevent suchrail from being dislodged or forced upwardly out-of place. The body ofthe tie 5 forming the base of the chamber 12 has a slot lt formedtherein to receive the head 15 of a securing spike 16, said spike beinginserted throughan opening 17 in the downwardly bent portion 8, thelatter formingthe inner wall for, the chamber 12. The outer verticalwall 6 of the said chamber 12 serves as a bracing wall for a wedge block18 which is driven longitudinally through the chamber, as shown at theright of Fig. 1, to engage the head 15 of the spike and requisitedistance to secure a rail in the seat 1nember9 when a single rail isdisposed in the said seat member, as shown by Figs. 1 and 2. The outerbent portion or wall 6 is formed with an opening 6' to permit theinsertion of an implement to engage the head 15 of the spike 16 toassist in placing or positioning the spike in its clamping ap plication,the spike by means of the implement being. driven inwardly to insure atight fitting thereof relatively to the part of the rail engagedthereby. This opening 6 is not an absolute necessity, as any suitabletool may be inserted longitudinally in the chamber 12 to engage the headof the spike and force the same inwardly. When a rail 19 is applied tothe seat member 9 in normal position so that the ball thereof will standuppermost, the base flange 20 of said rail is held in the seat member 9,the inner edge portion of said flange being engaged under the inner stopbend or limiting means Patented Apr. 17, 1911?.

'hold the latter projected inwardly the I 10, and when the rail is sodisposed an ortained in a horizontal position.

dinary spike 16 is inserted through the opening 17 and pushed inwardlyover the outer side portion of the rail flange, and then a wedge orwedge block 18 is driven into the chamber 12 and the spike is there byfirmly forced inwardly and positively held in engagement with the railflange, the head 15 of the spike engaging the slot lt to positivelyretain the spike in applied position. It will be understood that whenthe spike 16 is inserted in the chamber the latter will be clear, suchspike insertion being effected prior to the introduction of the wedge orwedge block 18.

' It is often necessary to extend a track in opposite directions acertain number of feet, and to avoid delay in making the necessaryextension it'would be inexpedient to adopt a cutting operationrelatively-to the rails to obtain the required number of feet of theextension, and under these conditions a rail is usually inserted balldown in conjunction with a normally positioned rail, the ball down rail,as at 21, being disposed outside of the normally positioned rail, andunder these conditions the base flange 22 of such inverted rail servesas a track means and provides for an expeditious track extension. Thein1- proved tie is constructed to meet this track extension contingencyand is provided with an inner projection 13 which engages over theinverted ball 23 of the rail 21, as shown by Fig. 3, the rail 21 in itsinverted position being shifted longitudinally through the tie; and thespike 16 has its inner pointed end driven slightly between the ball 23and the base flange 20 of the normally positioned rail 19 as a supportor means for holding the inverted rail in such manner that the flange 22thereof will be positively main- The spike I 16 when used to hold theinverted rail as shown by Fig. 3 has its head projected outwardly in thechamber 12 and the lower portion of the projection 13 bears on the outerpart of the inverted ball 23 of the rail 21. In the arrangement of thespike as shown by Fig. 3 the pressure of the ball 23 of the rail 21forces the spike outwardly, the latter being first inserted in thechamber 12 at an angle through the opening 17, and as the ball -23 iswedged or driven into place the spike 16 recedes or is pushed outwardly,the point only of the spike being held between the rail ball 23 and theflange 20 of the rail 19 with the head 15 of the spike snugly engagingthe outer contracted walls of the chamber 12. This extension of thetrack may be adopted at either end of a track bed organization and theaddition of the exten sion rails in a ball down position may be readilymade without disorganizing the general track construction.

It is proposed to form the tie either of channel iron or of flat stock,and in some instances a pipe may be cut and partially flattened and theends bent into the shape hereinbefore described. If a channel iron beused as shown in the accompanying drawing, the opposite side ribs 24:assume an uppermost position at the opposite bent extremities of thetie, and these ribs in the horizontal seat member 9 serve as thesupports for the base flange 20 of the rail, and portions of these ribswhich are overturned in the formation of the stop bend or limiting means10 bear upon the upper surface of the inner side edge portion of thebase flange 20.

It will be seen that the spike 16 arranged as shown in connection witheach rail holding extremity of the tie serves as a clamp of a simplecharacter and may be effectively used as a securing means for the railin 11m mal position and as a supporting means for the rail in invertedor ball down position. and by using a spike other clamping meansusuallyadopted in rails of this character are dispensed with, therebymaterially reducing the cost of manufacture of the improved tie.Moreover, the spike 16 as a clamp holding means may be easily appliedand readily removed and will serve as a reliable means in performingeither of its functions.

l/Vhen it is desired to disorganize a track rail construction embodyingthe improved form of tie the several parts may be readily dissociatedand moved from one place to another and quickly assembled in practicalrelation.

l/Vhat is claimed is:

1. In a mine railroad or track construction, a tie having the oppositeextremities bent upwardly and downwardly and formed wlth a flat seatmember secured to the body of the tie and having an inner terminalupwardly and outwardly directed stop bend, a chamber being formed bybending the extremity of the tie as specified, said chamber having anopening in its inner wall, a rail disposed in the seat member, and aspike inserted through the said opening in the inner wall of the chamberand removably engaging the outer portion of the flange of the ra1 2. Ina mine railroad or track construction, a tie having each extremitythereof bent upwardly and inwardly and then downwardly to form a chamberand continuing into a fiat seat member secured to the body of the tie,the inner wall of the chamber havingan opening therethrough, a looseclamping device inserted through said inner wall of the chamber andadapted to engage the outer portion of a rail flange, a rail having itsflange engaging said seat member and held by said clamping device, and awedge driven through the said chamber and engaging the outer end of theclamping device.

3. In a mine railroad or track construction, a tie having each extremitythereof bent upwardly and inwardly and then downwardly to form a chamberand continuing into a flat seat member which is secured to the body ofthe tie, the body of the tie forming the bottom of the chamber andhaving a slot therein and the inner wall of, the chamber formed with anopening therethrough, a rail mounted in the seat member and having thebase flange thereof engaging the latter, a clamping spike insertedthrough the opening in the inner wall of the chamber and having aportion of the head thereof engaging said slot, and a wedge block driventhrough the chamber and engaging the head of the spike to hold thelatter in clamping position relatively to the outer portion of theflange of the rail.

4. In a mine railroad or track construction, a tie having each extremitythereof bent upwardly and inwardly and then downwardly to form a chamberand the outer wall of a seat which is provided with an overhangingprojection, the seat continuing into a flat member which is secured tothe body of the tie and terminating at its inner portion in an upwardlybent "stop, the bent extremitv of the tie forming a chamber whose innerwall is the downwardly bent portion of said extremity, the latter wallhaving an opening therein, a rail having its base flange engaging theflat portion of the against the stop, a rail having its ball invertedand inserted between the first named nesses;

ERNEST HUTT ON. Witnesses: I

J. W. WINE, F. R. MIDDLETON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

. seat with the inner edge of the flange fitting

